Curriculum Reviews

Pros: ACE School of Tomorrow is an easily administered curriculum that is used in many smaller Christian schools. The good thing about this curriculum is that kids really enjoy it and older students can usually do their work independently. Many curriculum companies claim that the work is "student-driven", but ACE truly is. There are even DVDs available to help explain the advanced math courses. I especially like the computer program that drills math facts and teaches typing. ACE has fun comic strips and colorful illustrations which kids really enjoy. One of ACE's strong suits is repetition of the fundamentals in math and English to build a strong foundation. My kids especially enjoy the science Paces. I went to an ACE school from 2nd grade through 9th, and I still remember a lot of what I learned in ACE. One of my main weak points is geography, but ACE now offers a geography course in high school.

Cons: Although ACE School of Tomorrow uses the King James Bible and originates from a fundamental Baptist background, it is marketed as non-denominational and cuts up Bible verses by inserting dots in the middle of key phrases. This problem with the verses is only in the early elementary grade "PACES". You may also notice that in the comic strips, the characters apparently attend a non-denominational church since the word Baptist is never in the title. The Paces in the lower grades seem a little bit too repetitious to me which is one reason I would recommend another brand of curriculum for Kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade. I also feel that the Social Studies “PACES” in some of the grades lack academic content. For example, ACE Social Studies dedicates a lot of time to things like career choices and the lives of Protestant leaders in 6th and 7th grade. I would rather my kids be immersed in traditional history and geography repeatedly during their school years, since these subjects take a while to master. The ACE math progresses slowly in the elementary grades, but is fine if you make sure to buy the latest editions. I have found outdated information as well as obvious errors in the junior high Math PACES (workbooks), which can be frustrating. It is often better to buy your PACES new to ensure that they are the latest editions and that the answer keys correspond with the workbooks. Did I mention how expensive it is to buy ACE materials new? Be sure to keep the answer keys for your younger children to use later. Again, make sure you purchase the correct editions so that they match up with the keys.

Advice and Recommendations for Homeschooling with ACE: To ensure that my kids are pronouncing new words and names correctly, I require them to read the objective page of each new PACE (workbook) to me aloud. For grades 6-7, I recommend that another curriculum be used instead of ACE for history and geography. If you live in Florida or Texas, you will want to use the ACE state history course for your state for half of 7th grade. I also recommend a different creative writing course be used in place of ACE's literature Paces. I recommend ACE for new or overwhelmed homeschooling parents with older kids or for older kids in large families. I especially recommend it for the junior high and high school years when most kids enjoy working independently. To be honest, one of the main reasons my two older kids use ACE is that they have tried other programs and they prefer the tried and true, ACE. Click here for more information on how to homeschool with ACE.

Pros: Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum is an independent fundamental Baptist curriculum. It is the most affordable curriculum of those that I have purchased. I like the fact that the reader for kindergarteners is in black and white with no pictures and even contains Bible verses. Colorful pictures have their place, but I find it irritating when kids try to guess what a book says by looking at the pictures. Even if you choose a more colorful curriculum, I recommend that you supplement it with the Champion Baptist Reader from Landmark. With Landmark, English and spelling is conveniently combined in one subject which saves money. Another great thing about Landmark is their affordable record keeping and diploma program for high school students.

Potential Cons: Landmark may move too fast for younger students, especially in math, if they did not start out using it. The fifth grade math, in particular, does not have enough examples and explanation, so the parent will have to spend a lot of time teaching the many new concepts covered in that grade. I prefer a little more repetition of the fundamentals. Other subjects are challenging, but encourage logical thinking and emphasize writing skills. One drawback with Landmark is that the spiral "study guides" (workbooks) tend to fall apart easily. Another potential problem is that the workbooks and worksheets are not colorful and may be boring for very young children. The most glaring error with Landmark is that they define repentance in their glossary as turning from sin, which could lead to some doctrinal problems. God repented in the Bible, so repentance does not mean turning from sin. I also noticed that Landmark condones Focus on the Family which is an extremely liberal publication that is anti-fundamentalist. These types of problems are the reason that I do not use any packaged Bible curriculum, but a few of these issues do come up within the other subjects. Parental guidance is advised with any curriculum, since none is perfect.

Tips for Using Landmark: The answer keys come as loose papers with three holes, so I recommend purchasing several three ring binders and maybe some subject dividers to make it quicker to check your child's work. For older students, I would keep the daily work answer keys in separate binders from the quiz and test keys. This would enable them to check some of their own daily work if desired. I recommend that less educated parents buy a good grammar or writing book to bone up on English. This will help them to know how to grade the many essay questions and other writing assignments. This is a good idea for all homeschooling parents, regardless of the curriculum used.

Overall, I would recommend Landmark for a homeschooling family that is on a tight budget.

A Beka and BJU Press: These are my favorite companies for the early grades. I will be posting my updated reviews of these brands soon. In the meantime, Click here for reviews from another trusted homeschooling mom.

Pros: S.O.S. is done completely on the computer and automatically scores the student's work and keeps records. It can be affordable if purchased used on E-bay. The program has fun and colorful graphics and has actual teachers lecturing on each subject. I especially like the spelling games. The older versions of the curriculum (2001 is my favorite) quote the King James Bible exclusively, and the newer versions allow you to select the King James Bible during the set up process. The curriculum is more academic than religious, and it does teach the creation world view.

Cons: Alpha Omega Publications which makes Switched on Schoolhouse, Lifepacs, Horizon curriculum, etc., originates from a "Bible" church. It is not Baptist and is extremely liberal. For example, in eighth grade history, S.O.S. refers to Catholics as Christians. I'm sure that if I would have used it longer, I would have found even more wrong with it. I did notice that some of the newer CD roms played rock music and offer a choice of Bible versions which was a red flag. For this reason, I used mostly the 2001 edition which was also more user friendly. When the kids need help and you are, for example, holding a sleeping baby, they can't bring their work to you unless they have a lap top computer. With younger students, penmanship may suffer since they are typing everything in, and working on a computer can be frustrating for them--especially when it doesn't let them go any further because of a minor spelling or capitalization error.

Use this curriculum with caution, if at all. Although it is available in 3rd through 12th grade, I would only recommend it for a spiritually discerned student in 6th grade or above. I will say that homeschooling with S.O.S. is preferable to putting your child in public school, but I don't completely endorse it. Using it for just math and English would be better than using it for all subjects. I no longer use Switched on Schoolhouse at all, but it served a purpose when I was pregnant and had debilitating sinus headaches.

6th Grade: I will be using ACE for all core subjects except history and geography which will be A beka's History of the World plus some additional geography materials not yet selected. I will also be using a different creative writing course in place of ACE's literature which I have not yet selected.